This week on “83 Weeks,” Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson talked about WCW Clash of the Champions 32.
This show featured Miss Elizabeth’s WCW debut after being out of wrestling for almost four years. The show also featured the wedding between Col. Robert Parker and Sister Sherri and the infamous incident between Bobby Heenan and Brian Pillman.
Here are some highlights:
Bischoff was asked what Ted Turner thought of WWF’s Billionaire Ted skits: “When Ted saw the Billionaire skits, he laughed his a*s off. He got a bigger kick out of it probably than probably Vince did when he saw the final cut before they aired.”
Bischoff wanted to clear the air on all the rumors of how and why Elizabeth came to WCW as well as the rumors of bringing Woman in to manage Randy Savage: “There was never any thought about Randy being managed by another woman (when Elizabeth first came in). Elizabeth and Randy maintained a very good relationship after the divorce. They were friends. Randy loved Elizabeth until the day she died. I’m guessing, and I wasn’t on the phone call with Randy and Liz. Liz was engaged to either a real estate developer or a dentist in Miami, and a very successful one by the way. He had a beautiful condo right downtown in Miami and she was engaged to be married. But, her and Randy had been talking and I don’t know if Randy suggested it, probably, knowing Liz it was a Randy suggestion, ‘Hey, would you like to get back in the business.’ Evidently, Elizabeth reacted positively. I think Randy must have called Terry (Hulk Hogan) because Terry called me. Randy didn’t call me. Terry called me and said, ‘Hey, Ms. Elizabeth is available and she is interested in coming back. Are you interested?’ ‘Yes’ There is instant storyline fodder, multiple different ways we can go with that from a storyline point of view. Jealous Randy. There would have been a million ways to go without having to really even think about it for a couple minutes. So I immediately said, ‘Sure, if she’s available, let’s talk’. She didn’t want a lot of money. It wasn’t a money thing for her. I think she came in at around $150,000 a year. She didn’t require first class travel or any of that other stuff. She was a very simple, easy deal to do. She had a lot of brand equity, and like I said, it provided a plethora of storyline opportunities. It was a no brainer.”
Bischoff said it was a pleasure working with Rocco Rock: “I liked Rocco Rock. I liked him as a person. When I say he is easy to deal with, what I mean most of the time is very honest, very level headed, very professional, no bulls**t. He wasn’t trying to work anybody. He was just a legit, nice person to do business with and a valuable person to do business with. He was a very smart guy. He graduated from Rutgers University. It wasn’t like he was a bouncer in a bar and somebody said, ‘hey, you should be a professional wrestler.’ He was a very thoughtful, intelligent guy who approached the business as a profession, which is one of the reasons I liked him. Johnny Grunge, I didn’t have the same amount of conversation with Johnny, for whatever reason, as I did with Rocco, but the same was true. Johnny Grunge was very easy for me to work with. Easy for me means professional.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
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